Prosecutors seek arrest warrant for man who threw shoe at Moon
Jung Chang-ok, third from left, enters Seoul Nambu District Court Sunday for questioning about throwing his shoe at President Moon Jae-in. / Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
Prosecutors sought an arrest warrant on Sunday for a man who threw a shoe at President Moon Jae-in last Thursday at the National Assembly.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office said it requested the warrant to detain Jung Chang-ok, 57, on charges of obstructing justice and trespassing.
Jung arrived for the arrest warrant interview later on Sunday.
The incident happened when Moon left the Assembly building at 3:19 p.m., Thursday, after his 21st National Assembly opening speech. The shoe fell a distance from Moon, but police arrested Jung on the spot. Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station said it filed a warrant for arrest the next day, saying “The matter is utterly serious.”
Jung reportedly said he threw the shoe because “President Moon makes people feel humiliated by calling for fake peace, and destroying the economy. He seems not be sorry to the people, so I threw my shoe to humiliate him.”
Although Jung said he was not a member of any organization, he is known to be the father of a candidate, also surnamed Jung, who stood for the Our Republican Party in the last election. He is said to have served as co-chairman of a North Korean human rights group. He also has a criminal record for arrests on sex crime charges against minors when he was a theater actor in 1995.
Cho Won-jin, a former lawmaker and leader of the Our Republican Party, reportedly visited Jung in the detention facility of Yeongdeungpo Police Station on Sunday. In front of the police station, some conservatives staged a rally and called for rejection of the request for an arrest warrant against Jung.